September 10, 2021
The Biden administration will require all staff within all Medicare- and Medicaid-certified facilities to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on Thursday. The requirement expands upon emergency regulations requiring vaccinations for nursing home workers to include hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings and home health agencies, among others. CMS will develop an Interim Final Rule with Comment Period in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and expects to issue the final rule in October.
Also on Thursday, President Biden announced that the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will develop a rule that will affect employers with 100 or more employees. The agency will issue an emergency temporary standard mandating that these employers ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated and require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result weekly. The Biden Administration expects the requirement to affect more than 80 million workers in private sector businesses with 100 or more employees.